Taxes

US Supreme Court Suggests Support for 2017 Tax on Foreign Earnings

  • But justices are wary of endorsing wealth-tax proposals
  • Court hears rare case over Congress’s power to tax income

The US Supreme Court in Washington, DC.

Photographer: Nathan Howard/Bloomberg
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US Supreme Court justices signaled they are inclined to uphold a 2017 tax on American-owned companies’ foreign profits, while trying to avoid a sweeping ruling that could give a green light to proposals for a future wealth tax.

Hearing arguments in Washington, key justices suggested the tax, which aimed to collect hundreds of billions of dollars on a one-time basis, wasn’t fundamentally different from other levies imposed by Congress over the years.